Kyle The Wild Child: Three Years and a Hundred Years Ago

Sometimes something that has happened long ago, seems like it was yesterday. I often get this feeling when I think of my children and how, seemingly, rapidly they grow up: "just yesterday I was potty-training you and now you drive a car."  Conversely, something that happened relatively recently can seem like a hundred years ago. What is really strange is these perceptual time-bends can occur simultaneously, as is the case with Kyle "The Wild Child" Rittenhouse.

Though it has flown under the proverbial radar, it has been exactly three years since the United States was morbidly mesmerized by a young man (a boy, really) that became a racially animated killer. In so doing, he also became an “American Hero” which ought surprise no one. His name is Kyle Rittenhouse.

Kyle, the wild child.

I distinctly remember the trial and I knew what the result of that trial would be. It is memorialized in writing. Days before the trial, I wrote an article about its inevitable outcome, and the specific reasons of what was to occur upon adjudication. It really didn’t require a mental giant.

The Rittenhouse Murder Trial only augmented the surreal weirdness that was life in the United States a mere 36 months ago. 36 months ago, people were brawling in parking lots for toilet paper. Common household commodities that were normally easily found were replaced by barren shelves in grocery stores. In my household, my daughter and I were stripping at the threshold when we came inside, placing the “contaminated” clothing in plastic bags and fumigating each other as we headed to the shower. Spent masks littered the landscape like dead fish on a desolate beach during a red tide. Lysol and bleach were locked up in vaults and safes like gold bullion.

Sporting events were devoid of spectators, and creepy cardboard caricatures of humans replaced them. Fake applause and cheers were dubbed into the ghostly games. Loved ones who had transitioned from this earthly realm could not be bade farewell, as funerals were verboten. Children, coming of age, would miss the rights of passage: homecoming games, proms, yearbook signings and graduations. They would be robbed of things that will, inevitably, affect their future psychosocial development with the societal consequences yet to be realized.

There weren’t enough ventilators/respirators; emergency rooms were full and only the privileged could be tested for the viral scourge. “Chinese bats” were not the soup du jour, but the catalytic culprit of the malady. It was an election year that resulted in an election like no other. As if on cue in an Alfred Hitchcock script, Kyle The Wild Child, in all of his acne-ridden ghastly grandeur enters the scene…stage right.

Were I to have a “way back machine",” I would get into the cockpit. Initiate countdown. Fire reverse thrusters, program my time warp dilithium crystal drive to exactly 36 months ago and…

Within hours, the jury will begin its deliberations in the Kenosha Shooting Trial. I have also heard the main-stream media refer to it as the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial. Not once have I heard the case referred to as the Rittenhouse Murder Trial. Not once.

Conversely, most of us are familiar with the Simpson Murder Trial. That is what it was called then and that is what it is called now; acquittal be damned. A few days ago when the man-child known as Kyle Rittenhouse "broke down" on the stand as he testified in his own defense, his mother soon followed consumed with overwhelming grief. Her sobs so intense that they were heard throughout the courtroom to the point that she required the physical console of the woman next to her. It is only cosmic accident that the consoling woman was Jo-Ellan Dimitrius: O.J. Simpson's former jury consultant. The biting wit of the universe never ceases to amaze.

Apparently there are, at least, two Kyles. There is Kyle the child and there is Kyle the man; fearless crime fighter and "protector" of car lots and gas stations located in another state. During direct examination by his defense counsel and asked to described events just prior to murdering his first victim, Kyle (the child) became a puddling amorphous mass of nothingness. His anguish so fierce that he seemed to have gone into convulsions. The anguish of Kyle (the child) was so severe that the presiding judge had to recess the court to allow Kyle to gather himself.

Histrionics notwithstanding, Kyle (the child) never shed a single tear. Nary a drip of water. Prior to his "breaking down" was Kyle the man; Mr. Rittenhouse. Who boldly and confidently testified about how he arrived from another state to "protect the gas station and the Car Source" complete with AR-15, body armor and a medical-kit.

Kyle (the man) put out fires, "provided medical aid" and, in fact, was a certified EMT "working with the police". He was neither. Kyle (the man) was a paragon of American virtue cast from the die of the likes of John Wayne, Wild Bill Elliot, David Duke, Ted Nugent, Donald Trump, and a million other European-American males that think that a gun makes up for the deep-seated feelings of inferiority they have due to certain physical and anatomical inequities. Kyle Rittenhouse testified that he was getting his "face kicked in". Yet, his mug shots show not the slightest scratch. He was struck with a skateboard (on the head) but never went to the hospital for treatment; and the prosecution never brought it up.

Kyle Rittenhouse sought out police, as they paraded down the streets in armored vehicles, with his hands up (after killing two people and seriously wounding another) in an attempt to surrender. Though his hands were up and his AR-15 was sling-ready the police thought he needed some water, and gave him some as they told him how much he was "appreciated". Kyle Rittenhouse had a friend drive him back home (to another state), he then checked his social media, made a few calls, had some snacks and then turned himself in to the local police department.

Kyle Rittenhouse's bail was set at two million dollars (cash). Within weeks after arrest and extradition, Kyle Rittenhouse was released on bail. Kyle Rittenhouse, a high-school dropout raised by an illiterate single mother of three with an absentee addicted father, managed to post two million dollars. In addition to the two million dollars posted for bail, another million dollars has been raised for his defense and the linear continuum of adoration for dysfunctional European-American racists maintains its perpetual integrity. Or, so it seems.

Kyle Rittenhouse the man, drank alcohol with, and in front of, his mother at the age of 17. The same mother that knowingly allowed him to possess a straw-purchased firearm at age 17 and openly bring it into her home with her younger children present. However, this fact exemplifies the governmental schizophrenia of the United States in that it sends 18-year-old children to die in war or buy a gun and there are several states where a 14-year-old can marry; downright criminal in every sense of the word. Generally speaking, one must be 21 years of age to consume alcohol (and drugs), but only 18 to vote. Real schizophrenic stuff. As a father, it seems to me that these things are distinctive but not different in terms of the maturity required to engage in either but that is, alas, another column.

Kyle Rittenhouse will either be acquitted or there will be a mistrial (possibly "with prejudice"). The prosecution has been breathtakingly inept and the presiding judge is a burlesque caricature brazenly hostile to the prosecution. The prosecution died before it was born by falling into the defense trap of being put on defense. Instead of prosecuting a case that should have focused on why this clearly disturbed adolescent crossed interstate lines heavily armed, they chose on trying to defend what they knew would be a self-defense case on the part of the defense. Further, Wendy Rittenhouse (Kyle's mother) should have been arrested facing a myriad of serious charges. Anyone that has ever seen a person under the influence of certain drugs can look at Rittenhouse's eyes on his mug-shot and see he was "on something". It is infinitely fascinating how certain people in the United States never have toxicology tests done when they commit heinous acts but, then again, they all look alike.

In the 36 months since the Rittenhouse Murder Trial, he has become a wealthy man. He has visited with a former president who says he “is a fine young man.” He has appeared in a plethora of news interviews. He has had numerous television specials chronicling his heroism and “service.” He has a video game (it is called “Turkey Shoot”) He is in the midst of negotiations for both movie and book deals. He has a publicity agent, literary agent and financial advisor. Just months ago, and true to his philanthropic nature, he founded a non-profit organization chartered to “protect second amendment rights.” Rittenhouse has become a gun rights advocate since his trial.

Kyle The Wild Child went from eating naked ramen noodles three times a day, sans culinary accoutrements, to the mundane dining of lobster and foie gras. He went from shit, to sugar. He has been courted to enter politics (and, at some point, he will).

Rittenhouse has been publicly offered multiple internships, all by Republican lawmakers. On November 17, 2021, two days before the jury's decision, Florida House Representative Matt Gaetz offered him an internship. In response, Arizona House Representative Paul Gosar tweeted he would arm-wrestle Gaetz for the chance to have Rittenhouse as an intern. On the day the jury found Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges, North Carolina House Representative Madison Cawthorn offered Rittenhouse an internship. During an appearance on Newsmax, Colorado House Representative Lauren Boebert responded to Cawthorn's offer and challenged Cawthorn, who is bound to a wheelchair, to "a sprint" to employ Rittenhouse as an intern.

At least two laws, a bill, and a proclamation have been proposed in different states which have been named after Rittenhouse. In November 2021, U.S. House representative from Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced the Kyle H. Rittenhouse Congressional Gold Medal Act (H.R.6070) during the 117th United States Congress. The bill, which would award Rittenhouse the Congressional Gold Medal. Taylor Greene said, "Kyle Rittenhouse deserves to be remembered as a hero who defended his community, protected businesses, and acted lawfully in the face of lawlessness. I'm proud to file this legislation to award Kyle Rittenhouse a Congressional Gold Medal."

In November 2021, Oklahoma Senate Representative Nathan Dahm introduced Senate Bill 1120, called "Kyle's Law". The bill states if a defendant is charged with murder, but is found not guilty due to justifiable homicide, the state must reimburse them. A modified version of the bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a majority Republican party-line 7–3 vote in February 2022.

In January 2022, Tennessee State Representative Bruce Griffey introduced HB1769, also known as "Kyle's Law". The Hill said the law "would require the state to reimburse defendants found not guilty of homicide charges due to self-defense." Griffey additionally proposed a proclamation be created in honor of Rittenhouse, saying he "deserves to be recognized as a hero."

In November 2022, Rittenhouse met with Republican House of Representative members of the Second Amendment Caucus to discuss his experiences and answer questions from the caucus. The meeting was held at the Conservative Partnership Institute in Washington D.C. Caucus members who were present included Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and Byron Donalds (R-FL). Rittenhouse said, "I'm 19 and just got to speak with leaders of the greatest country on earth! This was an amazing evening where I got to share my story and discuss the importance of the Second Amendment…I know these great leaders have my back."

He is a celebrity and a “hero.”

What is most troubling for me, aside from the loss of life perpetrated by the man-child known as Kyle Rittenhouse, are the consistent themes and parallels that I see as a Black Person in the United States. When I watched Kyle Rittenhouse walk around like he was God with a gun and police did nothing aside from show their appreciation, I kept trying to imagine a 17- year-old (or 100-year-old) Black Person in the United States committing a similar act and my brain discharges bad neurons. The same thing happens when I try to imagine a Black Person in the United States shooting a sitting U.S. president and being out of jail and living to tell the tale. Or, when I watched Los Angeles burn in 1992 exiting the 110 freeway and seeing row after row of Korean liquor-store owners on rooftops, in black neighborhoods, with fully automatic weapons and ballistic vests. Not once admonished nor fired upon and, yes, thanked by the police. That is a tale that has never been told, but it is on my "to-do list".

Kyle The Wild Child, like the aforementioned Korean merchants, George Zimmerman, and Daniel Penny were all lauded by police and, thusly, embraced by white supremacists. The Wild Child raised, and made millions due to his dastardly deeds as did Zimmerman. Zimmerman actually sold the gun he used to kill a teenage Black Child in the United States named Trayvon Martin for close to one-half million dollars. Daniel Penny, yet to go to trial for the chokehold murder of Jordan Neely on a New York subway train, has raised nearly four million dollars for his defense (in less than six months). In each case, the money raised came through massive donations. The message, as always, being sent to Black People in the United States is about as subtle as a freight train.

This most sickening of anniversaries would be less toxic if one could point to some improvement in the society. Some newfound awareness reflected in the status quo that would indicate that the United States has learned something from its mistakes. This is not to be, mass shootings continue to quantitatively and exponentially multiply. Gun sales are at record levels as the gun lobby perpetually intimidates and buys off politicians of every stripe; zebras, DINO’s and RINO’s included. So-called “hate” crimes directed at Black People in the United States are ever increasing. The United States, quite clearly, has learned nothing; in fact, it has regressed (if that is possible).

It has been said that intelligence is the ability to learn from past experience; the opposite of which is “retarded.”